Wiping away tears that hadn’t been fully dried, she left the duke’s mansion. Due to Enrico collapsing again, causing chaos in the mansion, Fabio probably didn’t have time to worry about her.

Emilia now knew better than anyone that it was difficult to leave the duke’s mansion except at times like this. So even if it seemed cold-hearted, she deliberately ignored Enrico and quickly got into a carriage to return home.

As soon as Emilia arrived home, she began hastily packing her bags. Since she had been staying at the duke’s mansion for a while, Zabeta was naturally not at home, making it easier to move quickly.

She had roughly looked into places to move, but rather than going straight to sign a contract, it seemed better to stay at hotels or inns while searching carefully.

‘…It’ll be fine.’

Enrico’s last face kept lingering in her mind. So different from before, he had desperately clung to her. His earnest gaze and trembling voice – everything seemed sincere, too much to be just an impulsive action.

It made her even more uncomfortable to think that because of her, a duke like him was experiencing such rock-bottom emotions.

‘…I’ll marry you. Will that do?’

No, seeing him utter such nonsensical words about marriage, Enrico’s condition might be more serious than ever.

He even hurt his head. With time, when his body fully recovered, he might regret the words he had spoken.

Anyway, whether it was a momentary impulse or sincere, her thoughts remained unchanged. She had felt his position more keenly than anyone while being close to Enrico.

‘…Forget it. There are so many more important things to do.’

Emilia shook her head left and right as if to shake off useless reminiscence, suppressing her emotions.

Taking a deep breath like when she had tried to maintain an aloof expression in front of him, not showing a shred of emotion, she soon left the room carrying two pieces of luggage.

Though her injured ankle was carefully wrapped in bandages and didn’t hurt yet, she knew better than anyone that this was only temporary. The doctor said he would look into treatment methods, but Emilia was skeptical.

Now she was busy just thinking about how to firmly grasp evidence of Alessandro’s crimes and somehow bring him down. Naturally, there was no time to worry about her ankle injury.

‘First, let’s drop off the luggage at the lodging and go to the administrative office.’

She didn’t want to bother thinking about Cristina, as Fabio would handle it. Though curious about how she escaped, her parents’ matter was more urgent than her past safety concerns.

She had requested to find out who the person was who confirmed that the deceased Giorgio was her distant relative. That information was supposed to come out this week, so it was about time to go check.

The office employee had said it would be difficult to verify details about someone who had disappeared after resigning, but money talked. After secretly recruiting one employee, that difficult task seemed to be progressing somehow.

‘The person who ordered the forgery of family certification documents must be related to my parents. I just need to focus on investigating that.’

Emilia slightly moistened her dry lips and properly gripped the handles of the bags in both hands. Thinking about it, she decided she should go to a hotel in the city center.

If Enrico followed her, there was no use in running away unless she left the country. Besides that, to prevent any possible dangers, it seemed safer to stay at a hotel with security personnel.

Emilia quickly organized her thoughts. Even as Enrico tried to fill her mind again, she opened the front door wide as if rejecting it.

But an unexpected visitor was standing in front of the door.

“You’re home today.”

It was Alessandro Treano. His round eyes widened in curiosity, and his silver hair sparkled finely in the sunlight.

“Ah… Your Highness.”

“I came right away after hearing the news yesterday, but was surprised to find no one at home. Were you perhaps at Duke Michele’s mansion?”

Unlike Alessandro, whose lips curled up slightly, her expression stiffened a bit, as if flustered by his sudden appearance. He quietly looked down at her, then tilted his head slightly.

“Because Duke Michele was injured?”

“…Yes, it seems he was injured because of me.”

“Oh my, I should have come to help sooner. What a pity.”

If so, he would have received her nursing care, Alessandro thought as he lowered the ends of his eyebrows, swallowing the rest of his words. His enigmatic face was reflected in her jade-colored eyes, revealing wariness.

“Pardon?”

“Ah, I misspoke. Rather than a pity, it’s an unfortunate incident.”

Alessandro naturally corrected his words while closing the distance between them by half a step. They should have met yesterday originally, but things got complicated with Enrico getting in the middle.

He had expected Cristina to act recklessly, but thought she would at least keep to the time he had specified.

‘Tsk, this is why you can’t do anything with inferior beings.’

Cristina, who had suffered and struggled so much in the labor camp, even disobeyed the one thing he had instructed. He only told her to call Emilia and threaten her right before the flames erupted, but she called earlier than expected. On top of that, she made her move before he could arrive at the scene.

The plan for him to appear and save Emilia from danger suddenly turned to foam, with Enrico taking that opportunity instead.

“I intend to handle the culprit personally. It’s infuriating enough that she escaped from the labor camp, but a retaliatory crime? That’s absolutely unacceptable.”

“You’ll handle it personally, Your Highness?”

“Yes. Rather than dealing with this quietly, I plan to make an example of it and punish the criminal severely.”

Emilia seemed a bit surprised, as if she had naturally thought Enrico would handle the case.

Although the police usually handle cases, exceptions are sometimes made for incidents involving high nobles. It seemed she hadn’t expected Alessandro to step in like this personally.

“How should I deal with it? We shouldn’t have left seeds of discord in the first place, but Duke Michele handled it too carelessly. Ending it by merely sending her to a labor camp.”

Contrary to his malicious intentions, his expression was utterly dejected.

As he spoke with a look of dismay, she gradually fell silent as if at a loss for words. As if she didn’t know how to react.

“I’ll take care of everything. Just trust me.”

“…Thank you.”

As she finally bowed her head after hesitating, his gaze naturally lowered and fixed on the bags she had been holding in both hands all along.

“May I ask what these bags are for?”

Surely she’s not planning to move into Enrico’s mansion completely?

How much he had to suppress the urge to drag her out immediately after seeing her coming and going from Enrico’s mansion throughout the performance period. Alessandro’s eyes bulged as if he might snatch her luggage bags right away.

“I’m moving, and I plan to stay at a hotel while looking for a house. I thought I might feel more at ease in a busy area with lots of people…”

She’s had a falling out with Enrico. Alessandro immediately realized. He had rushed to her home as soon as he heard she had left the duke’s mansion, and it was rewarding news.

“In that case, how about coming with me?”

“…Pardon?”

“Where in this country could be safer than the royal palace? There’s a separate building, so it wouldn’t be bad to rest there for a while.”

“The royal palace! Please retract your words. How could I dare stay where such noble people reside?”

“It’s alright. The separate building is a space I don’t need to report to His Majesty about, so you don’t need to feel burdened. Of course, I could offer you my townhouse, but I’m suggesting this because I want you to stay in the safest place possible.”

“But…”

“If you stay in the separate building, I can immediately inform you about the progress of Cristina’s case−”

Alessandro’s lips curled up innocently.

“And I might be able to tell you something about your parents as well.”

If she was still investigating the Este Viscount couple’s death case and wanted to know so badly, he didn’t mind telling her. After all, it was Viscount Valmont who had actually taken action.

‘I can just kill him so he can’t say a word.’

Alessandro’s eyes were so calm as he casually had such a chilling thought. Seeing her wavering jade-colored eyes, he decided not to press further and give her some time to think, showing generous consideration.

The cool autumn breeze slightly disheveled his neatly combed silver hair, but even that looked quite fine. Alessandro maintained the smile on his lips, hoping those pretty pink lips would express affirmation.

“That won’t be possible.”

But his expression stiffened at the sudden intrusion of an unexpected visitor. His eyes, a mix of gray and purple, moved towards the direction of the voice.

“…!”

Emilia’s eyes widened. Her hands holding the bag straps loosened and covered her gaping mouth.

“I was curious what you’d say, so I parked my carriage far away, but it seems that was a good decision. It was quite an interesting conversation.”

Enrico, who had clearly collapsed earlier, was walking over with a perfectly normal expression.

Emilia stared at him in shock as he moved like a person with no problems, his handsome black hair disheveled, though it was unclear what had happened to his bandages.

“A case-related conversation being discussed by the person in charge – I can’t help but listen.”